I'm Such An Addict

Well, it's not as bad as it sounds.

A little background first:

For the past five months, I've been part of a really neat women's group that meets on Wednesdays. My friends Anne, Amanda and I have been taking turns leading the study which meets at Anne's house. A people mover full of ladies and kids make their way up from Johnsonville (via Tawa), the kids play (or in Helena's case watch a dvd and devour morning tea) and we gather around God's word and pray for each other in between the kids. It's awesome! All parties involved have really grown through it. In fact, it has been such a great group, that I knew there needed to be one in another part of town, so I've had the privilege to start one on Fridays in the city for the past five weeks! The two groups are totally different, but it has been exciting to be part of both. Unfortunately, I've had to say good-bye to the Wednesday group as I'll be taking on my new job in January and can only make one weekly commitment ("fun Friday" - anyone else feeling it for Hunter's homeschool schedule?). 

Anyway...

For our last meeting of the year we had a bit of Christmas craft time led by the two of the ladies in the group - Rachelle & Marg! We got a great demo from the incredibly talented Rachelle (who is branching out to sell more and more of her cool stuff) and Marg showed us an idea as well then we got right into it! Between bites from the morning tea spread and all the chattiness women are good at, we all got to create something super cool to take home! And herein lies the problem... I've unleashed the crafter in me and I've found myself thinking about new ideas for the past couple of days!!! I already added three pieces to go along with the two I made on the day... and now I'm developing/dreaming/chomping at the bit to start something for my little niece Emilia whom I haven't done anything for Christmas yet! Lucky her... she gets something handmade from craft-crazed Aunt Jennifer!!! I can see why Rachelle and Marg end up spending so much time making stuff - once you start to see the fruit of you labor - you just want to keep going. I mean this blog is a fun creative outlet, but I have to sit down and focus... whereas I was sewing bits and bobs standing up yesterday while telling the kids to get back in the bath (so I could finish of course)... wouldn't be standing in the bathroom with my laptop... hilarious! So who knows... you may see some more displays of my handiwork or I may phase out... we'll see! 

 Here we are at Amanda's house with a table laden with goodies to choose from! Oh the colors, the textures, the choices...

 It is fun to do stuff like this with friends. As Rachelle said, "Nobody else has put together that combination - it is unique and made with love" - well, maybe not verbatim what she said, but something similarly cool and inspiring.

And here I am, proud as punch over my first creations. I would show you the others but my ability to photograph still life is not as good as my ability to capture my children's expressions... so I'll leave it to your imagination!